2013 Rhone en primeur

Rhone 2013 a vintage of vivid and glittering wines

As in Burgundy, the 2013 vintage in the Rhone valley provided much work for farmers, much potential for disaster and an outcome of reduced quantity but of singular and fine quality. As the techier meteorologists might say, the weather during flowering was rubbish and this especially affected Grenache of both colours. Grenache has a number of strengths, but in our humble opinion wines with less of it – either colour - benefit more, especially in these times of super efficient yeast cultures and high natural sugar levels. 

In the southern Rhone the Southern Rhône (in French Rhône méridional) this means that Grenache takes a step back in 2013 and Mourvedre emerges, blinking, into the spotlight as a more significant part of many people's blends. This is no bad thing as Mourvedre/Monastrell/Mataro lends complexity, savouriness and definition to wines.

In the northern part of the valley (referred to in French as Rhône septentrional) as in much of Burgundy, the Syrah variety benefited in the dull, cool summer as it was finally able to ripen lowish yields to give elegant, lean but ripe fruit with lowish alcohol on the sheltered sites. On more exposed areas a word of caution is necessary as some places were so cool that wines can be a little lean. Of course this heavily depends on the quality of the producer.